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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 201 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 201

Supporting the goals and ideals of National Nurses Week on May 6, 2013, 
                         through May 12, 2013.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 2013

Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas (for herself, Mr. Joyce, Mrs. Capps, 
Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Coble, 
  Mr. Dingell, Mr. Hanna, Mr. Coffman, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Conyers, Mr. 
Langevin, Mr. Gerlach, Ms. Moore, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Brown of Florida, 
  Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. 
Hastings of Florida, Ms. Speier, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. Schrader, Mr. 
Blumenauer, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Rush, Mr. Holt, Ms. 
   Chu, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Farr, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
 Kennedy, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Loebsack, Ms. Meng, Mr. 
 Deutch, Mr. Takano, Ms. Kuster, Mr. King of New York, and Mr. Rodney 
   Davis of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Supporting the goals and ideals of National Nurses Week on May 6, 2013, 
                         through May 12, 2013.

Whereas since 1991, National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also 
        known as National Recognition Day for Nurses, through May 12, the 
        birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing;
Whereas National Nurses Week is a time of year to reflect on the important 
        contributions that nurses make to provide safe, high-quality health 
        care;
Whereas nurses are known to be patient advocates, acting fearlessly to protect 
        the lives of those under their care;
Whereas nurses represent the largest single component of the health care 
        profession, with an estimated population of 3,100,000 registered nurses 
        in the United States;
Whereas nurses are leading in the delivery of quality patient care in a 
        transformed health care system;
Whereas the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing report has called for the 
        nursing profession to optimize its contribution to better meet the needs 
        of all patients for quality health care;
Whereas when nurse staffing levels increase, the risk of patient complications 
        and length of hospital stays decrease, resulting in cost savings;
Whereas nurses are experienced researchers, and their work encompasses a wide 
        scope of scientific inquiry including clinical research, health systems 
        and outcomes research, and nursing education research;
Whereas nurses provide culturally and ethnically competent care and are 
        increasingly being educated to be sensitive to regional and community 
        customs of persons needing care;
Whereas nurses have demonstrated their commitment to patient care, improved 
        safety and quality, and better health outcomes;
Whereas nurses are well positioned to provide leadership to eliminate health 
        care disparities that exist in the Nation;
Whereas nurses help inform and educate the public to improve the practice of all 
        nurses and, more importantly, the health and safety of the patients they 
        care for;
Whereas the nationwide nursing shortage has caused dedicated nurses to work 
        longer hours and care for more acutely ill patients;
Whereas nurses are strong allies to Congress as they help inform, educate, and 
        work closely with legislators to improve the education, retention, 
        recruitment, and practice of all nurses and, more importantly, the 
        health and safety of the patients they care for; and
Whereas increased Federal and State support is needed to enhance existing 
        programs and create new programs to educate nursing students at all 
        levels, to increase the number of faculty members to educate nursing 
        students, to create clinical sites and have the appropriately prepared 
        nurses to teach and train at those sites, to create educational 
        opportunities to retain nurses in the profession, and to educate and 
        train more nurse research scientists who can discover new nursing care 
        models to improve the health status of the Nation's diverse population: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of National Nurses Week, 
        as founded by the American Nurses Association;
            (2) recognizes the significant contributions of nurses to 
        the health care system of the United States; and
            (3) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
        National Nurses Week with appropriate recognition, ceremonies, 
        activities, and programs to demonstrate the importance of 
        nurses to the everyday lives of patients.
                                 <all>
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